JoeCanuck

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

News:

Red and white once again! We've restored the classic look of JoeCanuck.

Author Topic: RoC Review: Cobra Gunship - By Request  (Read 2076 times)

olyeller01

  • phpBB Newsletter Staff
  • phpBB HATE Mechanic
  • Posts: 653
  • Paint-Viper
    • View Profile
RoC Review: Cobra Gunship - By Request
« on: March 22, 2010, 04:25:31 AM »

Cobra definitely came out on the winning side of vehicles shown during the Rise of Cobra.  The Steel Crusher, Night Raven, and Mantis sub were all shown on the big screen and all given toy treatment.  That treatment includes the very first Cobra vehicle seen…the Cobra Gunship.

Despite that not very imaginative name, the Gunship was one of the most impressive vehicles in the movie.  It easily took out the US Army’s best attack choppers, the AH-64D Longbow Apaches.  It’s maneuverability and heavy weaponry allowed it to single-handedly wipe out Duke and Ripcord’s convoy.  And when it landed, it had plenty of space for Neo-Vipers to pour out of it and easily grab the nanomite warheads with minimal resistance…until the Joes showed up, at least.

So, does the toy live up to its movie counterpart?  We received the Gunship with the first wave of vehicles wayyyy back in July.  It includes a pilot, Firefly, and was the focus of intense initial scrutiny as it was one of the first RoC variants (there are red helmeted and black helmeted Fireflys…mine’s black, and I don’t think one has ever been determined to be more rare than the other).  The Gunship measures about 15 inches long by about 5 inches high (with the landing struts deployed).  It’s gunmetal gray in color, with black “wings,” cockpit housing, and landing struts, and red missiles and stickers.  The best way I could describe it would be as a helicopter without a rotor cone or blades.  In fact, one feature that I will get to in a moment makes me believe the Gunship was originally designed as a chopper.  

A squared-off cockpit, similar to the cockpit seen on many choppers, sits at the very front of the vehicle.  The cockpit’s not super-detailed, but there are at least gauges molded in to the front of the cockpit, along with a few levers.  Just above and behind the cockpit is my chopper evidence…there’s a large hump molded in that is covered with a grate.  It would be VERY easy to see a rotor cone and rotors sprouting from here.  Progressing to the rear, the body flares out where the engines sit.  Beneath the engines are stubby wings with missile pods on the end of them.  The wings can extend away from the vehicle for attack mode, or tuck back in closer for cruising.  The engine housings taper off towards the rear of the vehicle.  The gunship has a very short tail, where two vertical stabilizers sit at an angle at the very rear.

The underside of the Gunship is pretty interesting.  The very front underside features a chin turret and machine gun that can rotate a full 360 degrees.  Just behind the turret in the dead center of the underside is a handle; with two more further back towards the middle of the vehicle’s belly.  These handles would be useful for fast extractions.  Simply swoop in with the Gunship and let your Neo-Vipers or the Baroness grab on and lift them (and the nanomite warheads) to safety.  Directly under the seat are two retractable landing skids; a third sits at the center rear of the plane, just underneath the beginnings of the tail.

There’re a few other features worth mentioning.  Both engine housings feature access panels that can be lifted to reveal the engines underneath.  There’s a sliding panel on the top of the vehicle that allows a few included red bombs to be dropped inside…pushing the button behind the panel opens a panel on the belly and drops the bombs.  And, just like in the movie, the Gunship can carry troops.  A panel just behind the cockpit on the left side flips down, revealing seating for two (as well as a grab handle) inside.  

Included is the pilot, Firefly.  If you have any of the multiple 25th Anniversary Fireflys, you have this one, too.  The only difference is his large vest and helmet, and the fact that he’s just plain gray (no camo).  The helmet looks suitably fighter-pilotish and has a place on the front to plug in one of the hoses from the vest.  The vest is rather large and looks like a combination between body armor and a parachute.  There are two long hoses that run from the middle of the vest and plug into holes on either side of the cockpit.  Like the rest of the early RoC vehicle drivers, Firefly comes unarmed.

I really like the Gunship, but it’s yet another almost-but-not-quite RoC vehicle.  I know it would have been expensive and probably wouldn’t have sold that well, but I wish it were an Echo class instead of Bravo class vehicle.  This would have made it much more accurate to the movie scale (and it could have held a lot more troops!)  As it is, its use as a troop transport is pretty limited…unless you consider two Neo-Vipers to be plenty of firepower…or you want to risk flying along with three more hanging from the handles underneath.  I like that all the hoses connect to the cockpit of the vehicle, but they are an absolute pain in the ass to stick back in if they become disconnected, which is why I couldn’t bring myself to pull Firefly out of the cockpit for pics.  Also, I know it’s a design limitation of the toy, but the end of the troop ramp is angled upwards.  I can just see Neo-Vipers hitting that and falling all over themselves on their way out of the vehicle.  And you have to be careful with the chin gun; I try to rotate mine to the rear when I store the Gunship, because it would be awfully easy to break it off.

It’s pretty hard to find a Gunship here in the States these days, but I understand they’re still plentiful in Canada, and at reduced prices, too.  Do I think the Gunship is worth paying the $19.99-24.99 Bravo vehicles go for?  Ehhh…maybe.  But is it worth picking up at a reduced price?  Definitely.  It’s not as cool as its movie counterpart, but it’s still a pretty cool Cobra vehicle.

Pics: (including one with Ice Viper for scale, as requested by LJ22)










« Last Edit: March 22, 2010, 04:37:46 AM by olyeller01 »
Logged
OlYeller01
Paint/Mustang Man
Reviewer at Large!

bandonov

  • Black Ice Wannabe
  • *****
  • Posts: 3682
    • View Profile
Re: RoC Review: Cobra Gunship - By Request
« Reply #1 on: March 22, 2010, 08:54:14 AM »

Great review.  I wish it was bigger too....
« Last Edit: December 31, 1969, 07:00:00 PM by Guest »
Logged
Lurking